(b) HUMAN ADIPOCIRE.
Reading edition
Towards the close of the year 1853, I visited a grave yard in Philadelphia, the remains of which were being removed, and from which, through the kindness of the superintendent, I obtained specimens of adipocire and valuable information. The surface of the burial ground was depressed about four or six feet below that of the neighbouring streets, and was of a very moist nature. Many of the bodies were converted more or less into adipocire, and of these, all had been large persons. There was none among the remains of children. I obtained specimens from two persons.
No. 1, was from a large man, which had been buried from ten to fifteen years; the ground was very moist, and the coffin rotten; the grave was seven feet deep. The adipocire was from the middle of the coffin, and was in irregular lumps.
No. 2, was from a very large man; buried five or six years; the ground moist, though not so much so as number one; the grave five feet deep. The ground around the coffin was of a bloody colour, and all of the body was decayed, except the lower portion. The shape of the rump was plain, and the legs separate; the fat was at the bottom of the coffin, and the bones (femur, tibia) were lying along it. The adipocire contained an impression of the bone, was spongy and dark-coloured on the inside; and on the outside it was smooth, white, and presented impressions of the grave clothes, and here and there appearances as if of the hair follicles and sebaceous glands, but which lost this appearance when viewed with the microscope. There was no hair on this specimen. The pieces of adipocire of this specimen were large, at the thickest part being about three inches in thickness; they presented the shape of different parts of the leg, though flattened; tough fibrous bands, like aponeuroses, were seen in some parts traversing the mass of fatty matter.
The appearance of these two specimens with the microscope, was very similar to each other and to the sheep adipocire. Powder scraped from them, with a fine needle, gave no appearance of fat globules, but irregular masses, mingled with membranous matter; a portion sliced off with a sharp knife, presented by reflected light, brilliant, white, irregular fatty fragments, but no traces of globules. When alcohol was added with heat, the fat disappeared, leaving membranous matter, and fibres not-anastomosing (the white element of cellular tissue.) The addition of acetic acid causes the fibres to disappear, and without showing nuclei.
Portions of number one presented an appearance as if of the hair follicles, and there were mingled with it cylindrical hairs, of an inch and a half in length, brownish in colour, and quite fine. From these hairs, and from its position in the coffin, adipocire number one probably came from the abdomen. The fat from this portion gave the same appearance under the microscope, as specimen number two. The alcoholic solution of the fat evaporated on the microscope slide, gave the appearance of stellated dendritic crystals, with curved branches, resembling the so called margaric acid under the same circumstances.
The whole mass of fat in the two specimens, seems to be entangled in a web of disintegrated membrane, and fibrous tissue. I have never been able to detect any traces of muscular fibre under the microscope; and Dr. Leidy, who was kind enough to examine specimens with the microscope, communicated to me the same results. The smell of the two specimens was peculiar; what might be called an adipocire smell; for I have observed it in all specimens of adipocire that I have examined. This smell is indescribable, the nearest approach to it being that of fæces, but it is much more disagreeable.
The following melting points were observed from the original adipocire, melted per se in watch glasses, and the fat taken up in capillary tubes. In these specimens, (a) was taken from parts with little, and (b) from parts with much cellular tissue:
No. 1. (a) fuses at 50°
solidifies 50°
(b) fuses at 50°
fuses 43°—44°
No. 2. (a) fuses at 55°
solidifies 50°
(b) fuses at 55°
solidifies 50°
They commenced to melt a little below and to solidify a little above these points, which were taken for perfect fluidity or opacity. Generally in solidifying, the crystallization commenced at one point, and spread gradually through the capillary tube.
The density varied with different portions of one and two, from below 0.7487 to 1.0, and was ascertained, by immersing specimens (freed from external air globules) in ether of the above density, alcohol of density 0.8365, and distilled water. The ash, no doubt, varied also; but the following determinations were made with the whitest portions of one and two: viz.: those of the density of ether. No. 1, contained 0.573 per cent. of ash, (1.135 gave 0.0065) which effervesced with acid, and contained principally, lime, with traces of chlorine, sulphuric and phosphoric acid, also iron, potassa soda, and (doubtful) magnesia. The melting point of this portion was 52°-53°. No. 2, gave 0.18 per cent. of ash, (1.109 gave 0.002) which contained the same substances as number one. The melting point of this fat was 53°-55°.
The two specimens of adipocire were melted with about one and a half times their weight of ordinary alcohol, filtered hot, washed a couple of times with hot alcohol, and pressed, the residue being weighed. This gives an approximate per centage of the membranous and fibrous matter, which is rather too low, owing to a little fat remaining in the residue and filter. The specimens of adipocire were picked as far as practicable from dark pieces.
No. 1, 360 grammes, gave nine of residue, or a per centage of
Fat colouring matter and water, 97.8
Organic tissue, 2.2
100.0
No. 2, 997 grammes adipocire, gave twenty-seven residue, or per cent.
Fat colouring matter and water, 97.3
Organic tissue, 2.7
100.0
The fats were then saponified with Potassa; No. 1 by Chevreul’s process, and No. 2 by Heintz’s process with alcohol. The soaps were precipitated several times, by solution of common salt; no ammonia nor cholesterine were detected during the process; a heavy, flocculent soap fell during the melting, which was examined, and found to be a soap of alumina, oxide of iron and magnesia; probably from impurities in the salt. No glycerine was present (by direct experiment) in either of the specimens. An examination for volatile fatty acids, gave negative results for number one, and a very slight trace in number two of volatile fatty acids, acetic and butyric, and one or two minute floating oil drops, most probably from the alcohol employed.
The fats thus obtained, were very dark in colour, and when cooled, after being melted in a capsule on water, solidified with a smooth, waxy surface, with the fibres of crystallization vertical. At the point of crystallization, the expansion pushed up, and broke the soft cake of fat in the centre. No. 1 weighed 237 and No. 2, 644 grammes.
No. 1, (the melting point of which was 57.5°, the solidifying point 52°) was melted with an equal weight of alcohol, and on cooling, filtered and pressed; a very dark liquid ran through, a drop of which, evaporated on a glass slide, gave dendritic, stellate, polarizable crystals. To the residue weighing 177 grammes, 100 grammes of alcohol were added, and the fat which separated, together with some depositing from the last filtrate by standing, were added to the fat of the previous operation; the fat which separated from this solution of 177 grammes, melted at 59°-60°, and solidified at 53°-54°. The dark-coloured alcoholic liquid, filtered from these fats, was saponified by an alcoholic solution of potassa; the alcohol expelled by boiling with water, and after transferring to a retort, was boiled with sulphuric acid. The distilled water, examined for volatile fatty acids, gave negative results. The fat was very dark in colour, melted at 55°, and solidified at 50°, though it was difficult to determine these points exactly, as the change exhibited itself very gradually. A portion of this fat was converted into a potassa salt, and precipitated by chloride of barium; the filtrate from which, treated with hydrochloric acid, gave a small quantity of a yellow fat, not further examined.
The baryta salts were treated by ether, and the residue by boiling alcohol. The ethereal, alcoholic solutions, and the residue, were severally decomposed by hydrochloric acid. The ethereal solution gave a small quantity of oleic acid, in very dark drops. The alcoholic solution fat was also small in quantity, and dark. It fused at 61°-62°, and solidified, as well as could be judged, at 45°. The residual fat, which was the largest in quantity, yellow, and of a waxy surface, melted at 43°-46°, and solidified at 45°-40°.
The purification of fat No. 2, was now undertaken, and experimented upon more particularly than No. 1, since this specimen of adipocire conformed to the shape of part of the human frame.
1o. An equal weight of alcohol was added, and the fat, which weighed 644 grammes, was dissolved by heat; on cooling it was pressed, and as the filtrate deposited more fat on standing, it was pressed again, and the fat added to the former. The dark-coloured filtrate was bottled, and the fat melted. It was of smooth and waxy surface, and weighed 511 grammes.
2o. The fat from 1o was melted with 170 alcohol, and the same operation performed. Residue weighed 327 grammes.
3o. Added 124 alcohol to this fat. In this all the liquor was absorbed by the pressing cloths; the fat weighed 335 grammes.
4o. Added an equal weight of alcohol and melted; pressed after two days. The liquid by this time, was light yellowish; the fatty crystals in white flakes or scales; the smaller ones transparent under the microscope, and polarizable. A portion of the fat was melted, and observed cooling under the microscope with polarized light; as the solidification approached, a beautiful play of prismatic colours took place, and the drop shot into crystal interlaced lamellæ. A drop melted with alcohol, and let cool, gave the peculiar dendritic curved appearance of margaric acid.
5o. The fat by this time weighed 300 grammes; it was melted with an equal weight of alcohol, and pressed the following day. Residue, 253 grammes.
6o. This was melted with 250 alcohol; the liquid from the press was very little less coloured than the last; the residue weighed 227 grammes, and was brilliant white, with a tinge of yellow; the fracture showed large crystals, and could not be distinguished from the product of the stearic candle factories. When melted, it cooled with raised, uneven surface, and was completely soluble in ether. When the ethereal solution was suffered to separate spontaneously, the first fat which made its appearance melted at 60°, solidified at 55°, and the fat extracted from the rest of the ether gave exactly the same points.
The following are the melting points yielded by the fatty residues of the foregoing alcoholic crystallizations:
Fat melts solidifies
2o 58° 53°
3o 58° 53° a 52°
4o 58° 53° a 52°
5o 58° a 58.5° 53°
6o 60° 55° a 54°
The examination of the liquids separated from the above crystallizations, was now taken up. Their colour was from a very deep reddish brown (No. 1o) down to light yellow, and nearly colourless (No. 6o.) In 1o, 2o, and 5o, crystals had deposited by standing, and as 2o was not corked like the rest, the deposit here was abundant; it was re-melted with addition of as much alcohol as had evaporated, and was suffered to stand for several days longer, when a drusy crystalline deposit made its appearance. The following are the melting points for these two precipitates:
Precipitate in melts solidifies
1o 62°-63° 44°5-40°
5o 51°-56° 44°5-43°
The fat deposited in 2o melted at 58°, and solidified at 52°, and the fat separated from the liquid of this bottle, melted at 59°5, solidified at 53°, but continued translucent down to 33°. After the above melting points, 1o and 5o were observed, the same fat was raised slowly to the melting points, and then kept for a considerable time in the thermostat, at 100°, the points were again determined, and found to be the same.
The liquids separated from the fats 1o-6o, gave the following results:
The fat from Liquid melts solidifies
1o 36°-46° 41°-?
2o ; 39°-41° 37°-35°5
4o[6] 59°-62° 40°5-35°
5o 62°-66° 58°-53°
6o 53°-56° 41°-?
The melting point of liquid 2o, does not accord with that above stated, but I note the experiments as they were observed, merely mentioning that I observed carefully, and am not conscious of having made an error. The above points seem vague, but it was impossible to fix a point definitely, as a cloudiness persisted up to the highest degree stated, so I prefer to give the limits of certainty. In 1o and 6o the solidifying points, 41°, were taken when the liquid in the capillary tubes seemed to become solid, but it remained translucent for a long time below this point, and 6o only became opaque (and that gradually) when suffered to stand in the air.
We are reminded here of Duffy’s observations upon certain isomeric transformations of the fats, (Quar. Jour. Ch. Sec. V. 197.) He noticed that stearine heated 1° above its point of solidification, became transparent, but soon after resumed its opacity; and Heintz made a similar observation. Duffy attributes this to an isomeric transformation of the fat by the heat; but it seems to me simpler until an isomerism be more distinctly proven, to assume a mixture of fats, which unite to form a definite compound under the circumstances, and which has the above mentioned property.[7] Heintz’s researches on the fats should make us look with suspicion upon fats as pure, that are only purified by crystallization.
Duffy’s remarks were made upon the glycerine compounds of the fatty acids; it appears from the above examination of the liquids 1o and 6o, as if something similar took place with the fatty acids themselves, although, with one or two exceptions, in other determinations of melting points noted in this article, I have not observed the same phenomenon of transparency.
A few experiments were now made with the alcoholic liquid 6o. A concentrated alcoholic solution of acetate of magnesia added to this liquid, produced no precipitate, but micaceous crystalline scales fell on adding acetic acid, and upon adding more acetic acid, and heating, besides these crystals, an oil floated on the surface, which solidified on cooling, and which behaved like a fat, and gave the melting point of palmitic acid, viz.: 62° (solidifies gradually from 47° to 39°.) The crystals gave a small quantity of ash when burned on platina foil, and on being decomposed by hydrochloric acid, gave a fat with the melting point of stearic acid 72°-73°, and solidifying at 60°-55°. The mother liquid contained too little fat to experiment upon. To another portion of the liquid 6o, alcoholic acetate of magnesia was added without addition of acetic acid, and the solution evaporated in a retort. The first crystals which appeared contained a fat which fused at 65°-68.5°, and solidified at 62°-58°.
The solid crystalline fat No. 6 which was removed from the liquid 6o, and which was the most highly purified result from the crystallization of this specimen of adipocire, was now examined more particularly; an alcoholic solution was made upon which to try the different experiments. Fifteen grammes of the fat required 300 of alcohol of 93 per cent. to keep it in solution; but before having added so much alcohol, on standing for a short time 0.656 grammes of pearly crystalline scales fell, which had a melting point of 62.5°, and solidified at 55.5°. The fat of the liquid after these crystals had fallen, when precipitated by water, melted at 58°-61°, and solidified at 55.5°: these crystals, recrystallized from alcohol, melted at 62.5°, and solidified at 58°-57°; these were dissolved a third time, in twenty times their weight of 93 per cent. alcohol, which deposited, on standing, less than a milligramme of tufted crystals of the form of palmitic acid, of which it had the melting point 62°: more alcohol was added to the solution, and it was divided by fractional precipitation with acetate of magnesia and the addition of a little ammonia with heat, into two portions, weighing 0.256 and 0.164 grammes, and they had the same melting point. This fat appears, therefore, to be palmitic acid, one of the acids into which Heintz divided margaric acid. The crystals deposited from alcohol do not at all resemble those of margaric acid, but under the microscope are lamellar. These two fats were converted respectively, by an excess of nitrate of silver, into silver salts, 0·24725 gave 0·074 Ag. = 29·93 per cent. and 0·14275 gave 0·04175 Ag. = 29·25 per cent., which corresponds to the percentage of silver in the palmitate of this base.
C32 192.00 By calculation. Mean of two Exper.
H31 31.00
O4 32.00
Ag. 107.97 29.7 29.5
362.97
There is no doubt, therefore, of the presence of palmitic acid in the fat of human adipocire. The second crop of crystals which fell from the mother liquid of those just examined, contained a fat melting at 62°, in all probability palmitic acid also. A determination of the silver of the salt of this fat was lost in the following curious manner: The silver salt was in lumps, as it had dried on the filter, and after it had stood for a short time at 100 in a watch glass, thinking to facilitate the escape of water, by pulverizing it in an agate-mortar, it became so exceedingly electric, that of the whole quantity of silver salt from 0.651 grammes of fat, I was not able to collect the smallest portion for analysis; whether the powder was attempted to be removed by steel, platinum, glass, a feather, or paper, on the first touch it flew into the air, and alighted upon the table: I have often noticed this behaviour in organic silver salts, and perhaps it would be worth while to try whether one of them could not favourably replace the amalgam on the cushion of the electrical machine.
The following experiments were made upon the alcoholic solution of the fats, from which the above portions of palmitic acid were separated. Enough alcohol was added to this solution to prevent any further deposit by standing, for which, as was before stated, 300 alcohol were required for 15 fat. Its percentage of fat was determined by evaporating the alcohol from a known quantity, and weighing the residue; the melting point of this fat was 60.5° to 61°. This melting point was again determined after saponification, to ascertain whether a fatty ether might not have been formed, and was found to be the same. The alcoholic solution of acetate of magnesia was also titled so that the necessary quantity might be added to the fat solution by measurement: the fat under consideration should be, by Heintz’s experiment, a mixture of stearic and the so called margaric acids, together with impurities.
Before proceeding to the fractional precipitation by acetate of magnesia, the alcoholic fatty solution was treated with an excess of acetate of magnesia, and an excess of acetic acid (aided by a little warmth) added; the resulting liquid was then evaporated over sulphuric acid (removing the crystals as they formed) in order to ascertain what effect this treatment would have upon the melting points. On cooling, a small quantity of a powdery precipitate fell, and after standing for a couple of hours over sulphuric acid, the liquid crystallized rather suddenly, to plates or scales, the melting point of which, after treatment with acid, gave 62°; recrystallized from hot alcohol it melted at 62.5°-63°.
[Transcribers Note: Missing text]precipitate the whole, was added; to the filtrate an excess of the magnesia solution was added, and the fat remaining in the filtrate from this precipitation was separated, as was also that of the other two precipitates. The following results and melting points are in their order as determined:
(a) 0·351 melts 61°
(b) 0·527 melts 61°
(c) 0·085 melts 53°
loss 0·173
1.136 grammes.
(a) and (b) were united, dissolved in alcohol, enough alcoholic solution of acetate of magnesia to precipitate the half added, and after standing for a couple of days, the precipitate was filtered off, and ammonia added to alkaline reaction to the filtrate. The first magnesia salt was translucent, and fused by heat to a transparent liquid, which by more heat gradually grew darker, finally black, and left a residue of magnesia. The melting point of the fat of this substance was as before, 61°.
The second magnesia salt was white and amorphous; it presented the same relations to heat as the first, and contained a fat of the same melting point, 61°. These fats were both brilliant white, lamellar, and of rough surface. The first magnesia salt contained a per centage of 7·59 MgO (0·25025 gave 0·019) and the second contained about double the per centage of magnesia, viz.: 14·91; for 0·28 salt gave 0·04175 magnesia by incineration.
Neutral palmitate of magnesia C32, H31, O3 MgO gives by calculation 7·6 per cent. magnesia, and basic palmitate C32, H31, O3 2 MgO gives 14·15 magnesia, which approaches the nearest to the magnesia salt of the above fatty acids.
The experiments of fractional precipitation of the normal solution of fat 6°, were conducted in the same manner, and with the following results, in which (c) and (d) represent the fatty acids of the two magnesia salts, and (e) that of the portion not precipitated by an excess of acetate of magnesia:
(c) 0·474 melt pt. 59.5°
(d) 0·440 melt pt. 61.5°
(e) 0·356 melt pt. 58.5°
loss during the ex. 0·010
1·280 grammes of fat.
The magnesia salts from which the fats (c) and (d) were separated, gave as follows:—(c) 0·227 gave 0·01675 = 7·38 per cent. magnesia; and (d) 0·1735 gave 0·012 = 6·92 magnesia. On comparing the melting points of these fats, and making allowance for want of a more perfect separation from impurities, there can be little doubt that they are neutral palmitates of magnesia, as was before ascertained. According to Heintz (Zoochemie, p. 1072,) stearic acid is C36, H36, O4, and the magnesia salt contains by calculation, 6·9 per cent. of that base. The foregoing experiments upon the two specimens of human adipocire were intended preliminary to a more thorough research into their nature, by Heintz’s method; but this process requires such a large quantity of substance in order to effect the separation of small quantities of whatever new acid might be present, and the amount of material dwindled so in the many necessary crystallizations from alcohol to separate the dark-coloured impurities, and especially, since the determinations and reactions already made, were so confirmatory of what has lately been done in working upon the solid fatty acids, I preferred placing aside the substances thus obtained for a future examination, when the separation of fatty acids shall have become more simplified, as it must be before long.
(c) Fossil adipocire of Bison Americanus obtained from a metacarpal bone from Big Bone Lick, by Dr. Leidy.—It was a white powder, and in pulverizable lumps; amorphous under the microscope; with a talcose feel, and of density a little below 0·8365, since it barely swims upon alcohol of that strength, while it sinks in absolute alcohol. Water will not wet it; with the addition of hydrochloric acid and heat, it is separated without effervescence, into a mineral solution, and into an oil which solidifies on cooling to a nearly white fat, a small portion of which melted on a glass slide solidifies to a confusedly crystalline mass; a small quantity treated in the same way with absolute alcohol, crystallizes in plumose and dendritic crystals, like margaric acid. A portion of the adipocire boiled with absolute alcohol, yields but a minute quantity to the solvent, and that not of a fatty nature, showing that the fatty acid is wholly saponified with an earthy base. The whole quantity of adipocire weighed 0·986 grammes. 0·16325 heated in a platinum crucible, fuses, burning with a smoky flame and with the smell of fatty acid, but no acroleine, leaving 0·0165 or 10·1 per cent. of a perfectly white ash, which hydrochloric acid almost perfectly dissolves without effervescence, and which consists almost entirely of lime, with a few minute specks of oxide of iron (seen during the action of the hydrochloric acid,) and a couple of small grains of sand: there is a very small trace of phosphoric acid present. The greater portion of the adipocire, 0·716 grammes, was decomposed by hydrochloric acid and water, by the aid of heat: the decomposition took place with a strong smell of rancid tallow, and the fundamental smell observed in all adipocire was emitted. It was melted and washed several times, at first with acidulated and finally with pure water. The water from the washing, when evaporated, gave a certain quantity of brownish yellow colouring matter. The fat was melted in the capsule in which the precipitation took place, and weighed 0·618 or 86·31 per cent. of the adipocire; when melted, a dark flocculent humus-like precipitate was seen; the fat itself was yellowish, and of a flat, waxy (here and there warty) surface. It melted at 51°.
The adipocire therefore appears to be a lime soap of one of the fatty acids, with a trace of phosphate of lime and with flocculent organic matter, or in per centage approximately,
Fatty acids and a little colouring matter, 86·31
Lime and a trace of phosphate, 10·10
Flocculent organic matter, 3·59
100.00
If the organic matter be neglected and the per centage then calculated, we will have,
Fatty acids, 89·5
Lime, 10·5
100·0
Now Stearate, Margarate and Palmitate of Lime, respectively contain a per centage of 9·3-9·7—10·2, of lime, so it is reasonable to suppose (as there is nothing in its reaction contrary, but everything favourable to this supposition) that the fossil adipocire is a neutral lime soap of the usual fatty acids of tallow.
Experiments upon the decomposition of muscular fibre (bullock’s heart) with water, with a view to the formation of adipocire.
A portion of raw, and one of boiled muscular fibre from bullock’s heart, were on March 8th, 1854, placed with water upon a microscope slide, and covered with thin glass, which was closed with sealing wax around the edge to prevent evaporation. This was repeatedly observed during the year, and the attention was directed at times to particular fibres the better to watch any change. At the commencement of the experiment, the cross-markings of the fibre were distinct and the fibre itself was of a delicate rose-colour. I find in my notes of April 8th, and May 11th, that no change presented itself in either the raw or in the boiled fibre, except that the cross-markings were more distinct. On December 6th, 1854, but very little change was noticed, (the raw fibre was whiter,) the cross-markings in both were more distinct than ever; by high powers an amorphous precipitate was discovered in the neighbourhood of some of the fibres—about one third of the water had evaporated.
A. On November 14th, 1853, 100 grammes of cheese were placed in a loosely stoppered bottle, and covered with distilled water, a portion of the same cheese being reserved for comparison: the water was renewed as it evaporated.
Ba. On November 19th, 1853, one half of a bullock’s heart, weighing 673 grammes, was placed, covered with Schuylkill water, in a wide-mouthed stoppered bottle.
Bb. The remaining half of the heart, weighing 816 grammes, was covered with mineral water with lemon syrup. It was intended to use plain mineral water in this experiment, that is, Schuylkill water saturated with carbonic acid, but the former was sent by a mistake, which was not discovered until too late. In these cases the fat was partially removed from the heart, but not to any great extent.
C. Boiled six eggs, removed the shells from two, which weighed then 88 grammes; ran pin-holes to the centre in two, which weighed 97 grammes, and left the shells upon the remaining two, which weighed 96 grammes; these were together placed in a glass-stoppered bottle, and covered with water. These different substances did not delay to decompose and give out offensive odours, and the eggs especially maintained their proverbial character in this respect; in fact, on the approach of the cholera season I was obliged to place the bottle of eggs on a plate, cover it with a large inverted beaker glass, and heap the rim of the beaker with hypochlorite of lime. With regard to the heart, the contents of the bottle containing mineral water, as might be expected, preserved their lively red colour for a longer time than in the case of the bottles containing river water.
The appearance of these bottles, on December 13th, 1854, was as follows:—
The cheese A was converted into a white, thick, grumous mass, lighter than water, and which when diluted with a little water, presented the appearance of pus; under the microscope with moderate power, angular transparent fragments constituted the principal part, and among these, polarized light showed many broken blade-shaped crystals without a play of colours; a few globules of oil were also seen. The material A was removed to a glass-stoppered bottle, more water added, and was set aside. A portion of the cheese used in this experiment had been preserved in paper; it was found hard, and on the surface oily. It was placed aside in a cork-stoppered bottle.
B. The bullock’s heart had been so divided, that each half contained an auricle and ventricle, which were placed in the bottles, (a) with water, (b) with carbonic acid water. The appearance of the contents of these bottles at present is similar, though (a) seems to be more disintegrated. In both of these, the cavities and valves of the heart maintain, in a measure, their form, and the chordæ tendineæ are in perfect preservation: the serous covering of the heart is consistent; and in (b) it is, in parts, quite black from sulphuret of iron. The fluid in both bottles reacts strongly alkaline; when the mass of the heart is cut open, the muscular fibre appears of a dirty, yellowish-red colour, and when examined under the microscope, shows the fibre, but without any of the cross-markings in (b). In (a), which was more disintegrated, by the addition of water and a power of 700 diameters, the fibre could be seen broken in small portions, and giving evident traces of both longitudinal and cross-breaking up of the sarcous substance. The fibres of (a), treated with hot and cold alcohol evinced no change; with hot acetic acid they shrunk in dimensions. The weight of (a) dripping with liquid was 330 grammes, that of (b) 275 grammes.
C. The Eggs.—The water was strongly alkaline; the shelled eggs were seen in broken, yellowish-white lumps, and a thick deposit at the bottom of the bottle, gave no evidence of crystallization under the microscope with polarized light. The liquid from the eggs and from the two heart experiments emitted rather a disagreeable odour, which was mingled with an aldehyde smell.
As decomposition had not advanced to its full extent in these bottles, I preferred setting them aside for a future research, when both the solid and the liquid contents will be examined. Braconnot’s[8] analysis of bullock’s heart is as follows:—
Water, 77·03
Fibrine, cellular tissue, nerves, vessels, 17·18
Albumen and colouring matter of the blood, 2·70
Alcoholic extract and salts, 1·94
Aqueous extract and salts, 1·15
100.00